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Friday, December 2, 2011

Predators Win 6-5 Over Vancouver in Unbelievable Comeback

In a game that saw all of the goalies in action (4) and plenty of scorers (10), the Nashville Predators beat the Vancouver Canucks 6-5 in a contest that will be featured on NHL Home Ice's "Games Gone Wild" for the rest of the year.

After the Predators saw a 3-1 lead collapse into a 5-3 deficit, the team fought pack to tie the game with two late goals in the second period. After a long scoreless stretch in the third period, Mike Fisher got the game-winner with his second goal of the game with 76 seconds left in the third period.

Anders Lindback was perfect in goal in relief, stopping all 19 Canuck shots while the other three goalies failed miserably. Pekka Rinne started for the Preds and gave up five goals on 18 Vancouver shots. Cory Schneider started for the Canucks and gave up three goals on five shots. Roberto Luongo gave up three goals, including the game winner, on 15 Preds' shots.

In addition to Fisher's two goals, the Predators got scoring from David Legwand, Shea Weber, Jordin Tootoo and Colin Wilson. Wilson also added a pair of assists while Craig Smith had three helpers.

With the win, the Predators moved within three points of division leading Detroit, and five points of the Western Conference lead.

The Predators will spend the night in Vancouver and leave at 10 a.m. PST tomorrow and come home to rest for the rest of the evening before preparing to play Buffalo on Saturday night at the Bridgestone Arena.

Make the jump for Comments from the couch and more details from the game...

Comments from the Couch...

First Period...

Sergei Kostitsyn and Francis Bouillon were scratched. Teemu Laakso was also a scratch as he was put on waivers earlier in the day. Blake Geoffrion was also placed on injured reserve prior to the game. Pekka Rinne started in net as expected. Kyle Wilson also started his first game as a Predator.

The first event of the game was a penalty for the Predators with Smith being called for hooking David Booth at at 3:34. At 4:42 Dan Hamhuis evened the playing field by holding Legwand in the kind of penalty that drives coaches crazy.

Legwand took advantage of the penalty by scoring the first goal of the game at 5:44 on the man advantage with assists to Colin Wilson and Smith.

Fisher followed up with a back-handed goal from the right side at 8:16 to give the Predators a 2-0 lead. Marty Erat and Weber got the helpers.

In the next shift, 25 seconds later, Weber was called for holding Hodgson and he came back to score on the resulting man advantage at 9:58 to bring cut the Preds' lead to 2-1.

At 14:45, Marty Erat was called for high-sticking Kevin Bieksa to put the Canucks back on the man-advantage but the Preds did not allow a shot.

Henrik Sedin was called for hooking Patric Hornqvist at 18:49 to put the Predators back on the man-advantage

Schneider had the save of the game with the glove with 42.7 seconds left on a blistering shot from Weber.

Weber was not to be denied again as Wilson fed the puck to him in the left circle at 19:50 and he buried the puck past Schneider to give the Preds their second power play goal of the night at 19:50 and a 3-1 lead to end the period.

1st Period

Goals

Shots

Corsi

PIMs

Faceoffs

Predators

3

7

13

3-6:00

9-8 53%

Canucks

1

5

26

2-4:00

8-9 47%

Second Period...

After Schneider gave up three goals on five shots, Luongo replaced him in net to start the period. Luongo had been sitting out for six games after he was injured and could not regain the net. Schneider had won five in a row coming into the game with the Predators.

At 2:47, Jerred Smithson fell on the change as was called for slashing Burrows when the Canucks had a two on one break for the net. On the resulting man-advantage, Daniel Sedin put one past Rinne from the left red line at 3:10 to pull the Canucks within one at 3-2.

On the next shift, 48 seconds later, the Preds left Vollpatti open in the slot and he beat Rinne on the glove side to tie the game at 3-3.

At 4:57, Weber was hit in the face by Booth and no call was made, in spite of a discussion with the referee. At 5:43, Rinne was shaken up in the net with plenty of blue jerseys all over him.

At 7:35, Luongo made a great one on one save on a breakaway by Marty Erat.

The Canucks took the lead at 8:16, on a wrister by Burrows from in front to the net with little help from the Preds' defense.

Barry Trotz pulled the plug on Rinne at 10:29 when he was beat one on one by Hansen who gave the Canucks a 5-3 lead. With the Canucks getting four goals in a little over one-half a period, Lindback entered the game for his second relief appearance of the year in Rogers Arena.

After giving up four goals in a row, the Preds showed life at 16:09 when Halischuk sent the puck to a waiting Tootoo who buried the puck past Luongo to bring the score within one at 5-4.

At 16:36, Ryan Kesler was called for interference on Jack Hillen. On the man-advantage at 17:30, Legwand spotted Wilson crashing the net from the left side of Luongo and gave him the pass where he tied the game 5-5 with a power play goal.

2nd Period

Goals

Shots

Corsi

PIMs

Faceoffs

Predators

2

9

13

1-2:00

8-20 65%

Canucks

4

21

33

1-2:00

20-8 35%

Third Period...

After two wild periods, the final stanza turned into a defensive battle with plenty of back and forth action by both teams.

The Predators broke through at 18:44 when Erat passed the puck to a driving Fisher who redirected the pass past Luongo to give the Preds a 6-5 lead.

At 18:53, the Canucks pulled Luongo and added Kesler to the Sedin line for the final push. The Predators held firm during the final push for the victory.

One of my My Other Gigs

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